HawaiianEye Loc: Haleiwa, Hawaii

I second Burk's response(s).

I replaced a 2012 MBPro i7 - 16GB, 1TB with a 2021 MBPro 8GB, 1TB, added a dongle – the same one Burk recommended, a practical necessity, and drive a 32" Phillips monitor and have yet to experience any slowdowns with several apps and windows running in six or seven 'Spaces.'

If you've deep pockets, you might future-proof somewhat by purchasing a more advanced and +$$ model. YMMV with your particular needs/want.

andymac

To all who responded - thanks for your input and broadening my thinking.

There is a lot of good thinking and diversity of approaches here that demonstrates the value of this forum. I appreciate especially thoughts from those much more interested and more willing to delve deeper into the technical aspects of software and equipment - likely keeping me from making unnecessary purchases beyond my needs.

Harry02 Loc: Gardena, CA

I have one also. Those Minis are wonderful- but they are what they are.
They use an Intel "i" chip, an i5 or an i7. Built in "meh" graphics- no upgrades.
That GPU has no memory- it uses RAM- up to a max of 512k. Max your ram.

OR you can do the "official" Apple kludge. Build a PC.
You'll need a case, power supply, and a mobo with native Thunderbolt.
NOW you can add ram, some video cards, some SSDs, etc. As needed.
Something like a "OWC Thunderbay Flex 8 128TB HDD RAID Thunderbolt 3 Storage Docking Station"
This is only @ 10% of that: "HOPDAY Thunderbolt 3 Dock".
I ended up installing Linux Mint on my Mini, and using a dual boot MacPro for Mac stuff.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Have you seen the Late 2020 M1 Mac mini? NO MORE INTEL MEDIOCRITY. It is a COMPLETELY different beast under the hood, despite being housed in essentially the same package it has been in for a decade. The mini starts at $699. Nicely equipped with 16GB Unified Memory and 1TB SSD, it's $1299.

If you don't like that form factor, the same computer is in the Late 2020 M1 MacBook Air, and the Late 2020 M1 MacBook Pro, and the Spring, 2021 24" iMac. All three have roughly identical performance when similarly equipped.

The best deals are the M1 MacBook Air, and the 24" iMac. You get a keyboard, a mouse or trackpad, and an internal display with those! You would have to add them to the mini.

Imagine a Toyota Corolla with a 300hp electric motor in it...

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

I also have a 2015 27 inch Mac. As mentioned in a previous thread weeks ago. I will upgrade by getting this gizmo. Astropad Luna Display Laptop Screen Extender, Turn Your iPad or Mac into a Wireless Monitor, Portable Dual Monitor Setup, USB-C Port Compatible with Mac. It should arrive this week. Then I will be able to use my MacBook Pro and the 27 Mac as the monitor. I plan to upgrade my 2019 MacBook Pro to a M1 model sometime after my tax return comes back next year

Mickey Jetpur Loc: California

I had the same dilemma. This is what I did. I bought a MacBook Pro M1 6 months ago and got tired of waiting for a 27" iMac. I recently paired it with a 27" LG UQ850-W monitor. I was looking at BenQ but the reviews were mixed. The LG is very new and had great reviews. The colors are same as in LR on my MacBook, and I didn't find any noticeable difference as I hooked it up straight from the box. It is Mac ready. I went for the 27" as it has more pixels than the 32", for editing.
My MacBook M1 is 2021 but you could hook up an older one to it.

Mickey Jetpur Loc: California

I looked at the Luna Display too, I forgot what the issues were, but there were some!

Mickey Jetpur Loc: California

My setup is like yours, except I went for a 2TB Sandisk ssd. And the LG monitor just came out, so I went for that model. Gosh, I did a lot of research and so glad to know that I didn't fall short!!

fdnave Loc: South Jersey

I had a similar experience where my iMac could not be upgraded to accept the new software versions so I had to abandon what is not a large paperweight. My alternative was a M2 MacBook Pro and 27" LG UHD monitor that is excellent for what my needs are. So far so Good

marquina Loc: Richmond, Virginia

If you want a 2-monitor setup, you could use your iMac 27" as a second monitor with the Mac Studio.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

That depends greatly on the vintage of the iMac, since Apple prohibits that on newer models.

moonhawk Loc: Land of Enchantment

Please hit "Quote reply" so we know who you are responding to. Thanks!

Copyrat

I am not sure but have heard from a tech that Mac monitors are made by LG. So the display of LG monitor should be the same as that of Mac.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I bought my Apple Studio Display at the refurbished section for $1359, $250 off from the regular price. I ended up getting my Apple Studio (10/32) 32GB RAM and 2TB storage through Adorama with $150 off from a coupon from AppleInsider. Some of the Studios go pretty fast. I found an app, Refurb Store, that will send you an email when the item or particular configuration you are interested in is in the store. I had no hits for 2 weeks, so I went through Adorama. When the Studio arrived, what I was looking for showed up. Overall I saved over $400 between the refurb store and the coupon.

I just checked and the base model Studio is at the refurb store as are the Studio Displays.

rwm283main Loc: Terryville, CT

Andy, you don’t indicate whether you do professional photography or are like most of us that do photography as a hobby.

I still consider my self a hobbyist after my involvement in photography and graphics illustration for over 40 years.

I’ve sold some stuff over the years but I can’t classify myself as a pro.

And, because of that, I would have a tough time justifying spending many thousands of dollars for my hobby. I would love to if I had a lot of disposable money.

That being said, I recently purchased a Mac Mini M1 with 512 Gb hard drive and 16 Gb of ram to replace a well used iMac and Mac Pro that was maxed out with 4 hard drives, 36 Gb of ram and a decent graphics card. I read and watched a number of reviews on the Mac mini M1 and that influenced my decision to buy one.

I have it set up with 2 modest 23 inch displays, ASUS ProArt, along with a Setachi dock that has a 1 terabyte SSD.

Compared to my MacPro the mini can run circles around it. It’s hard to believe that a computer weighing less than 2 pounds can be so responsive while running LR and PS as compared to a 30 plus pound computer that was built to the max, which is basically now a boat anchor. In some cases, what use to take minutes to render a small video clip now takes seconds.

Again, based on what I do with my photography and graphics the Mac mini certainly suits my needs and I feel good that what works for me didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Good luck. I hope the many replies from the forum will help you with your decision.

Rich